Around Town in Silverwood
[The Oak and Eagle]
Drogo and the other halflings of The Shire party live it up, and enjoy a few drinks bought for them by patrons for good luck. Asking around about the ruins, you hear a few unlikely stories of a ghost that steals souls in the ruins of the keep.
Relf Bluetooth, the half-orc who runs the local outfitters' shop, gives you a bit of advice. "The main dungeon entrance is in the center of the castle ruins. You can't miss it. But it's not the only way to enter. If you poke around the ruins a bit, you'll find other ways down. Oh, and watch out for slimes and molds. They can be deadly! Haha!"
[The Granite Cup]
A wizened old dwarf with an eye patch, Ivanus the Slow, tends bar. He owns the joint, and makes a mean mushroom souffle to serve up with his famous bedrock ale. He grins as both the adventuring dwarves ask about the kobold bounty. "You vant to know about kobolds, yes? Zey are a nuisance, yes? Zat man, a King's Knight, offers bounty."
Looking where Ivanus indicates, you see a well-dressed dwarf, young, with a jaunty feather in his peaked cap, sitting by the fire. He ushers both dwarves over to him an offers both a drink. He speaks in the cultured human accent of the capital, rather than the local dwarven dialect. "The king has sent me to Silverwood after receiving a petition. Kobolds, I'm told, have been leaving the ruins of Yeffal's castle and raiding the surrounding farmsteads. The king has charged me to offer a bounty of one platinum coin per kobold head returned to me here at this inn. If some means of dissuading the kobolds from raiding the locals can be reached and peace held for one month, the king offers a reward of 100 gold to each member of the party that successfully manages this feat."
When Ronny the Gnome makes his offer, a dwarf and a gnome both approach him. The dwarf looks tough as nails, and introduces himself as Garthmond. The gnome, who introduces himself as Airk von Rumple, seems young and eager. "Vat sort of job do you have?" Garthmond asks.